BF3: Will A New Processor Increase Performance?

[xPickles]

So basically, I'm curious of how much of a performance increase I'll see while playing BF3 if I upgrade my processor to the Intel Core i5 3570K Processor 3.4 Ghz 4 cores

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SZ0E1K/ref=asc_df_B007SZ0E1K2090209?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=pg-446-34-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395097&creativeASIN=B007SZ0E1K

Also, I don't know a whole ton about PCs or processors so maybe there's a different processor I should be looking into? My budget is around $200, but I may be willing to pay more if the benefit is worth it. Saving money is always good though, especially when you don't have much like me

Here's my PC specs:
Windows Vista 64 bit
Nvidia Geforce 560ti OC
8 GB of Ram
Intel Core 2 Quad CPU Q9400 @2.66Ghz

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but my motherboard is an ASUSTeK P5Q.

I appreciate any help you can provide

 

[langley8]

to upgrade ur processor you would have to get a new mother board as yours doesnt support the i5 as it fits in a LGA1155 and ur motherboard only supports LGA775

do you know what PSU u have?

 

[Blahman11]

I would overclock your CPU to the max your board allows. Get a decent air cooler first though. It would save you alot of money and would give you more time to save up for something really good like a decent Z77 motherboard and unlocked intel CPU (or whatever the equivalent is when you have the money). 45nm core 2 quads are about as fast as the Phenom iis clock per clock, and if the Phenom iis can easily cut it in BF3, an overclocked Core 2 can easily cut it as well.

 

[xPickles]

to upgrade ur processor you would have to get a new mother board as yours doesnt support the i5 as it fits in a LGA1155 and ur motherboard only supports LGA775

do you know what PSU u have?

When I bought my graphics card, I also purchased the Corsair Gaming Series 600 Watt PSU. Any recommendations for the motherboard?

 

[xPickles]

I would overclock your CPU to the max your board allows. Get a decent air cooler first though. It would save you alot of money and would give you more time to save up for something really good like a decent Z77 motherboard and unlocked intel CPU (or whatever the equivalent is when you have the money). 45nm core 2 quads are about as fast as the Phenom iis clock per clock, and if the Phenom iis can easily cut it in BF3, an overclocked Core 2 can easily cut it as well.

By air cooler I assume you're talking about the PSU? As I mentioned to langley8, I have a 600 watt Corsair Gaming Series PSU. I would consider overclocking my CPU if there was hope of better gaming performance. I've never overclocked anything before. I wouldn't want to screw something up. Any tips or good tutorials that you know about?

 

[Guest]

He talks about the cooler on your CPU. There are air coolers and water coolers (closed loop and custom)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_cooling

 

[jay2tall]

Toms had a CPU scaling page on a previous Battlefield GPU review. It basically concluded that BF3 does not see much, if any, performance on more cores or a faster CPU. (assuming you already have a capable CPU) It is GPU bound and the only way you will really see much of an improvement it to upgrade your graphics card or overclock it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-13.html

 

[13thmonkey]

I went from a Q9550 to an 3570K, and saw an increase in smoothness, no drops, no stuttering any more. my 9550 was at 2.83, and my I5 is at 4.3. I'm using a GTX470@ 2048x1152. The graphics settings did not matter, if I closed everything else on the PC It would perform a little better

 

[xPickles]

I went from a Q9550 to an 3570K, and saw an increase in smoothness, no drops, no stuttering any more. my 9550 was at 2.83, and my I5 is at 4.3. I'm using a GTX470@ 2048x1152. The graphics settings did not matter, if I closed everything else on the PC It would perform a little better

So before upgrading your CPU, you experienced large changes in your frames? I just finished playing some BF3 and I literally had frames as high as 70s and then dropping down to 30s. Most of my settings are on medium to low at 1920x1080 resolution. As long as I'm above 30, it's okay, but it doesn't make any sense why my frames are jumping around so much. My graphics card should be able to easily handle the game, even on high settings. Also, I sometimes record my gameplay using DxTory, and I wonder if a new CPU could also help with that?

 

[13thmonkey]

So before upgrading your CPU, you experienced large changes in your frames? I just finished playing some BF3 and I literally had frames as high as 70s and then dropping down to 30s. Most of my settings are on medium to low at 1920x1080 resolution. As long as I'm above 30, it's okay, but it doesn't make any sense why my frames are jumping around so much. My graphics card should be able to easily handle the game, even on high settings. Also, I sometimes record my gameplay using DxTory, and I wonder if a new CPU could also help with that?

I'm not sure about your case, but I was running at 95-100% cpu utilisation, and would experience stutters and frame rate drops (1/10th second) on heavily populated maps, 32+ tdm's were worst. Did not re-install windows, just reset to out of box, and installed 3570k new mobo etc. and now no issues. 40-55% cpu utilisation. If you do the sums on the gflops of my processor and the old one, at 40-55% I'm using about 5-10% more gflops than the q9550 was able to provide. So that I conclude was borderline. By reducing baseload by stopping everything I could it would get better. I'd suggest that the CPU load of recording does not help if you are running at high cpu util rates.

 

[ecklerov]

Toms had a CPU scaling page on a previous Battlefield GPU review. It basically concluded that BF3 does not see much, if any, performance on more cores or a faster CPU. (assuming you already have a capable CPU) It is GPU bound and the only way you will really see much of an improvement it to upgrade your graphics card or overclock it.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-13.html

BF3 multiplayer is very CPU intensive.

http://cdn.overclock.net/7/74/746236dc_2506.png

 

[Sunius]

So before upgrading your CPU, you experienced large changes in your frames? I just finished playing some BF3 and I literally had frames as high as 70s and then dropping down to 30s. Most of my settings are on medium to low at 1920x1080 resolution. As long as I'm above 30, it's okay, but it doesn't make any sense why my frames are jumping around so much. My graphics card should be able to easily handle the game, even on high settings. Also, I sometimes record my gameplay using DxTory, and I wonder if a new CPU could also help with that?

With GTX 560 Ti and i5-2500k @ 4.3 GHz I get stable 60 fps in 64 player multiplayer maps. So yea, if you really get so bad performance, getting a new CPU will help a lot.